He was unusual in that he was selected by tombola at random from the remaining 68 housemate hopefuls after the other 13 housemates had been selected; and was given the "impossible task" of being a self-declared mole.

Mario survived the task after a majority of the Big Brother housemates did not believe him to be the mole and so he was temporarily saved from eviction.

Mario went on to reach the final and ended up third in Big Brother series 11.

Mario Mugan was born near Venice and is half British and half Italian.

At the time of Big Brother he was a 28-year-old living in Southend-on-Sea and was unemployed.

Previously Mario Mugan had been a lecturer at South Essex College in Luker Road.

Mario was a major Big Brother fan and owns the Diary Room chair from Big Brother 5. At the time that Mario bought the Big Brother chair, he was a 26-year-old dressmaking student and paid £6,600 for it.

He had applied to Big Brother several times in the past.

On the first night of Big Brother, Mario Mugan said that "Christmas last year, I had my heart ripped out of me."